Rozovian
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Posts posted by Rozovian
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This version is a big improvement over the previous version, it was interesting to compare them so thanks for linking them both.
I'm a little concerned about the main guitar levels, as they might be a little too loud, but it could just be my speakers hyping the highs. That main riff guitar is really dominant. It could probably stand to lose a dB or so. A more metal-oriented listener might be able to offer more insight into that and other technical details, but it's probably not necessary in order to get the remix passed and posted.
It's a very conservative take on the source. The first minute is pretty much verbatim. There's some nice changes to the track after that, where you've taken more liberties with it. Still, if anything's keeping this from being posted, it's source usage/interpretation. The source was already quite metal, so I don't think the genre adaptation would count much towards interpretation, but the dynamics and the stuff after the first minute could be enough to keep this from being too conservative. It's difficult to say.
So if you're happy with it, sub it. The worst that can happen is that it gets rejected.
In any case, I think it's pretty badass. Nice work.
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This appears to have fallen between the cracks. Do you still want an eval of it?
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This thread appears to have fallen between the cracks. Do you still want a mod review / eval of it?
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Going by my previous eval post, I should be on the lookout for piano humanization issues. Timaeus covered it well, and better than I could have. I don't think it's to an extent where it'd be NO'd on that alone, but worth looking into regardless. For your own development, if not for the remix'.
There's some overall dynamics things that could be smoothed out, or emphasized, or otherwise changed around, but any specifics would go into personal preference. Still, e.g.: The stuff around 0:08 are significantly louder than the preceding stuff. Not individual notes, but a set of them. Around 0:25 things get rather soft, while picking up around at 0:30. How intentional is this? It feels a bit directionless. How do you want it?
The ending is extremely soft, probably too much.
Dynamics on the micro level, dynamics on the macro level. That's still there to work on. Consider looking at the track waveform to get some idea of the overall dynamics of it. it might help you identify where things are weird. If necessary, run a high pass filter over it before exporting the version you're going to look at, just to make sure some bright attacks aren't messing up the waveform view. Just figure out how loud you want different parts to be, and make it sound more deliberate.
I don't think you need another eval for this track. Unless you're going to introduce any new problems, it's just dynamics left. Good luck, and nice work.
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Fun source. I had forgotten about it, so thanks for bringing it here.
The breakdown is appreciated, it speeds up the eval a lot.
Fun references, very fitting, and nicely adapted to the source. These might run afoul of the submission rule that says use of non-game music as source "should be extremely limited". I think this extent is fine, but that's up to the judges.
The world needs more bass solos.
Source usage is fine, mix quality is fine, and the track rocks. The submission rule isn't 50/50, but rather that the source should be "prominent". Which it is. Cool stuff.
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The drums are weirdly mixed. The hihat is rather loud. Not terribly so, but noticeably so. But the splashes are weak. Piano is too loud compared to the other elements, and the output compression pushes down the drums for this. There are several points where the drums disappear behind other elements of the mix. That shouldn't happen.
The piano feels rather mechanical. There's obvious changes in velocity, so my guess is that it's unrealistic timing. It could also be unresponsive samples, or both. And it's mixed too loud.
Your strings are too slow. It's really noticeably in the ending, where they lag behind. You can offset this by moving the notes back, or you can find a more responsive instrument. As they're in the background, just adjusting the start point of the sample (if your sampler lets you do this) might be enough.
There's some weird sound design choices here. Your drums change a lot in the elements you use. Suddenly you start using a clap, then finger snaps, then one snare, then another... Changes like these can work, if mixed right and if they make sense for the dynamics and sound design. I don't think that's the case here.
Then there's lots of weird things going on in the background. Some are cool and interesting, some are annoying. I'm not going to list them, but if they're distracting, they're probably bad. Or too loud. Or both.
Source-wise, it's very simplistic. No great liberties with the melody or arrangement, just the melodies and some drums. Source, therefor, is obvious. Whether the arrangement is sufficiently interpreted becomes the more important question.
I find the arrangement a bit too plain and underdeveloped for my liking. It's essentially source variant A+drums, source variant B+drums, source variant C+different drums. I think the takes on source is acceptable, but when both source usage and arrangement are just on the edge of being too plain, you should probably try to bring out your vision for the remix more.
As for your specific concerns:
-Balance is not great. Take a break from the track, then come back to hear what stands out where it shouldn't.
-Panning isn't a problem for me, at least on speakers.
-I'm not sure what you mean by SFX. Sound effects? Those little things that do little for the music but you've thrown in anyway? Some are annoying. Some are fine. Some are too loud either way.
-Making the song more exciting might not work for this arrangement, this sound design, perhaps even this source. And you shouldn't think of that as a necessary goal. Sometimes, a song should be nice and calm. ReMix number 1559, Bladiator's and Tepid's take on Fisherman's Horizon, is not very exciting. I wouldn't call 2190 all that exciting either. yet those are two of my favorite tracks on the site. Yours isn't exciting either. And it doesn't have to be exciting to be good. -
Just know that Spectrasonics, the company behind Omnisphere, restricts Omnisphere to music use only, afaik meaning you may not use it to make sound effects. I assume sound effects counts as a non-musical use.
QuoteCan I use the sounds from my Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments outside of music production?
If you are considering any non-musical use of the sounds from your Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments, it's very important that you contact us directly in advance to clear any special, non-musical usage: info@spectrasonics.netOther sample-based products could have similar restrictions, and I suppose even synths could have if they're designed for a specific use, e.g. using Pianoteq to make a piano library would probably be restricted, but I haven't checked. I only know for sure about Omnisphere.
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Just as a reminder, take off the eval tag once you get an eval. That way, we'll know when you're looking for an evaluation of a new version.
Glad to read you're making progress. I'll try to catch this next time it's on eval, I don't want to spoil it until then.
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Source is there. I blame Brentalfloss for exposing me to this source. There's some nice melodic variations to it, and the overall arrangement has a nice flow to it. A few slightly awkward transitions and a fairly simple dynamic structure to it, but nothing really problematic there.
However, the sound design is too simplistic, a bit random at times, and doesn't sound like Electro at all. There's a whole bunch of silly voice clips in there too, that are just annoying. I know I'm biased against voice clips, sound effects and stuff like that, but I can recognize when they're used tastefully, even if they annoy me. Here, they're not used tastefully.
Even if you go for a simplistic sound, be more consistent about it. Don't give one track huge amounts of processing while leaving others bare. Obviously, some synths need different amounts of processing to fit wit the rest, but when the overall sound varies between raw and simple oldschool synths and much more advanced software synth patches with reverbs and filtering and things. Make your sounds fit together. That's what mixing is all about.
There's some nice instrument choices here. I keep being reminded of some instrument from somewhere, possibly the soundtrack from Cities in Motion or Cities: Skylines, by one of your leads. That's cool. There's a lot of cool sounds in here, but they don't quite fit together. Sort out what sound you're going for, and focus on getting everything else to mesh with that.
Why does the snare come in at 0:25 only to disappear 4 seconds later?
The drums are repetitive, the bass drum seems to loop through the whole track. I don't particularly mind, since some tracks just work well on top of a simple foundation like that. But it's worth bearing in mind that there are things you can do to vary the drums even if the core element, the bass drum, is the same throughout. More fills and frills, so long as they don't mess with the overall style you're going for.
The ending needs work. A fadeout might actually for this track.
Easy no. But the arrangement, the most difficult element of a mix, it works. Getting the sound design and the other small things in order should make this good enough for the panel. I don't think you should try to make this into Electro, since your arrangement doesn't seem to fit, but that's not my decision to make.
Nice work. Not yet ready for submission imo.
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Haven't really heard much, if anything, from Undertale before. Cool, fun source to play with. Sounds like some old NES FF stuff. Sorry it took so long to get to this. Glad to see you using the new eval prefix.
Slimy's right. Unfortunately for a piano-only remix, this is too mechanical. I like the arrangement, but the performance (or illusion thereof) is too robotic. Too mechanical sequencing. The piano sound itself might be ok, might be a problem as well. It's difficult to tell how responsive it is to velocity changes when I don't hear if there are any velocity changes in there at all. Regardless, this sounds sequenced, not performed. That's a problem.
It's also difficult to tell if the right-hand writing would work or not, if the velocities were different. It feels a bit simplistic at times. With different dynamics, that can sound great. Right now, it feels a little too simple. There are long sections where the dynamics are the same throughout. While you vary dynamics between sections, within a section the dynamics are pretty flat. That adds to the mechanical feel of it.
Varying timing, velocity, and note lengths is a human thing to do. A human performer won't be able to hit everything exactly right. The problem with humanization is that the quirks of the human performer aren't easily recreated by a computer. For this to pass, it needs a lot of humanization work, or a collab with someone who can play it.
It's difficult to comment on the source usage and that stuff without being more familiar with the source, but I hear several melodies from source in here. The different genre makes the comparison more difficult, but the adaptation works well. It's a nice arrangement. Unless there are some obvious source usage-related problems, I don't expect that's a problem.
Someone more familiar with Undertale's soundtrack, and with how piano should be written, could chime in on those things, since I think that'd be useful information to you. As far as I can tell, the only thing that'd get this rejected is the humanization issue, both the performance (or illusion thereof), and the overall dynamics which need a bit more motion to it. If it sounds performed, played, human, real, then I think it's good to go. Until then, I don't see this passing.
Nice choice of source, nice adaptation. Still needs work, though.
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Currently, there's a freeform prefix option. I'd very much like to see people use this to describe the state of their remix, but also taking some liberties with it so we know how it can be used. I see a few "wip", a few "finished", and one "doom" on the first page right now, and i know we've got at least one "eval" there too. I've been meaning to get to it. Maybe another mod will beat me to it. We'll see.
I have an in-progress post about how to use the tags, including the prefix, but I'm not sure it's done yet. I could add to the "how to" post that the prefix is for describing the state of the remix. In it, there's a list of recommended prefixes, including those labels from before. We're considering adding "cover" to the list of recommended prefixes, since that does help communicate something about the state of the mix and the kind of mix it is. More suggestions and ideas are welcome (and not just about tags, but about the remix board in general).
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"What do you think about the idea to let people post their work and give additional information, like what they wanted to achieve, what do they need feedback for, short description of their work or so?"
You mean we don't _let_ people do that already?
If someone wants some specific feedback, they're free to ask for that. I can add that to the How-to post. But I don't want to make it any more formal than necessary. If people just want to dump a link to track into a minimalistically titled thread, and see what response they, that's okay. If people want specific feedback on their drums humanization, frequency balance, arrangement, or whatever, they can just say so. If they want to share what their plan was and what their own thoughts on the mix are, that's fine too. Freedom! But you're right in that it should be encouraged in the How-to post.
We're working on a post about tags and how to use them, too (to be added to the How-to thread). It's a related thing, and might help clear things up for some tracks, eg covers tagged as such vs. ocr-intended tracks.
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This is the thread for questions, opinions, concerns, complaints, suggestions, and discussion about the Workshop and everything going on here. We're starting fresh with a new, empty thread so we don't have to edit the previous thread. For those interested, here's a link to the old one.
This thread will not be stickied/pinned to the top of the board. We're trying to avoid having too many stickied topics from now on. This thread will climb to the top of the regular threads when there's something going on, and will disappear down the list of threads when it's not being used. Links to it will be found in the pinned threads.
- Audiomancer and timaeus222
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This is the video game music remixing forum. Here you can get feedback on your remixes, and provide the same for others. Whether or not your remix is intended to be submitted to OC ReMix, you can post it here.
Threads
One thread per remix, one remix per thread. Exception: albums, see below.
Don't make a new thread just for an update. We're okay with a new thread for a remix you're picking up again after many years since last update. If you can't find the old thread with search or other means, you can make a new thread.
Don't post too many threads at once. It feels like spam, which might make listeners ignore you.
Set the title of your thread with the name of the game. Information such as the song(s) remixed or the genre might also be of interest to listeners.
Use a thread prefix to let listeners know what state your remix is in. Use thread tags to make your work easier to find based on keywords.
If you're asking for general feedback on your music making, you may include several remixes in a thread (please include this in the thread title), but we recommend focusing on a single track at a time. Albums are an exception, of course.
When your remix is finished, and you want to submit it to OC ReMix, follow these instructions. You may also request an evaluation (previously "mod review") before submitting.
Releases
Individual tracks, music videos, and albums of video game remixes can be released here.
Albums
You can release your VGM remix albums here. The one-track-per-thread/one-thread-per-track policy obviously doesn't apply to albums.
If you're looking to submit an album to OC ReMix, read the relevant parts of the Project Guidelines and the Project Guide, or contact one of the Project Evaluators.
If you're already a posted OC ReMixer, or in the To Be Posted-queue, you can post in Community to promote albums you're involved in. That includes VGM, remix albums, and original music.
Hosting
Some online hosting services offer streamed playback of the audio uploaded. The problem is that these sometimes compress the sound quality, which might make the music sound worse than is actually in the file, and might mask some problems in the mix.
Instead, use a hosting service or web space that doesn't do this. Some of them have a streaming option. There are many free services for hosting your remixes, whether finished or works in progress. These are a few that we like.
Tindeck | Box | Dropbox | Google Drive | Soundcloud*
* Uses stream compression, but it's a music hosting site, and some users find the ability to timestamp comments useful.
Feedback
When posting a remix, consider if there's something in particular you want feedback on, and feel free to mention that in the post. You might also want to mention any particular purpose of the remix, such as whether you're looking to submit it to the site or not.
Just like you want feedback on your remix, other people want feedback on theirs. Let them know what you thought of their remix, what they did well, what they could improve on, and they might return the favor.
You can also get feedback by asking people on the OC ReMix works-in-progress irc channel: #ocrwip at irc.esper.net.
You can also just ask remixers, judges, workshop mods, and others by sending them a PM or contacting them by other means. Most people on the site are cool and approachable. We're all game music nerds anyway, aren't we?
The Checklist
A feedback checklist was developed to cover common problems in remixes submitted to OC ReMix. Feel free to use this to enhance your feedback to others, or to critically listen to your own track. Check (typically with an X) the boxes that apply. Then delete the lines that don't apply, so it's easier to read.
QuoteARRANGEMENT / INTERPRETATION
[ ] Too conservative - sticks too close to the source
[ ] Too liberal - not enough connections to the source (too much original writing, source connections not identifiable enough)
[ ] Too much direct sampling from original game audio
[ ] Borrows heavily from non-source material (e.g. mainstream music, classical music, movie theme)PRODUCTION
[ ] Too loud
[ ] Too quiet
[ ] Low-quality samples
[ ] Unrealistic sequencing (particularly acoustic instrumentation, e.g. notes use the same velocities, mechanical timing)
[ ] Generic/cliche sound choices
[ ] Drums have no energy
[ ] Overcompressed (pumping/no dynamics)
[ ] Mixing is muddy (e.g. too many sounds in bass, middle or treble)PERFORMANCE (live recorded audio/MIDI parts)
[ ] Timing not tight enough
[ ] Wrong notes, general sloppiness
[ ] Poorly recorded
[ ] Bad intonationSTRUCTURE
[ ] Lacks coherence overall (doesn't "flow" enough)
[ ] Not enough changes in sounds (e.g. static texture, not dynamic enough)
[ ] Pace too plodding
[ ] Too repetitive
[ ] Too short
[ ] Abrupt endingWHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE TRACK
[ ] Creative arrangement ideas
[ ] Good production quality
[ ] Good live performances
[ ] Instrument choices
[ ] Improvement from previous submission(s)
[ ] Source tune choice(s)PERSONAL COMMENTS (positive feedback, specifics on checklist criticisms, any other thoughts)
[write here]Guides to remixing
Tutorials category | zircon's guide to getting started | Rozovian's remixing guide
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Meet the Evaluation Team!
The purpose of this thread is to give any would-be workshop denizen the ability to best utilize the staff here. In other words, here's what you need to know about each one of us! Each of us are here to help you grow as a musician and (hopefully) into a posted ReMixer. However, not all of us operate the same way, and we each have different backgrounds. Some of us are in different time zones, and we all have projects, lives, family, and music of our own to attend to. Nonetheless, the reason we're Evaluators is because we each have a passion for helping others improve.
Gario (Judge, not active)
Real name: Gregory Nourse
Location: Wilmington, California, USA
Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Preferred method of contact: Discord , PM
Also reachable by: Discord, FB
Five OSTs I recommend: Dragonseed, Megaman Soccer, Final Fantasy 8, Utopia (SNES), Saga 2/3 (Final Fantasy Legends, in USA)
About me: I have my degree in Music Theory and Composition from UNM (back in 2008... hard to believe it's been that long already), and as such I've actually had a lot of experience listening to all sorts of styles of music (both tonal and atonal). As such, one area I'm particularly keen on is arrangement, voice leading and orchestration of the track. As of 2008 I've done a lot of work on my own learning the ins and outs of production, so I can give some solid advice on that front, as well.
I'd like to be as diligent as possible on these boards, though unfortunately I've only had time to browse them actively once a week, roughly. If you send out a PM I'd be happy to direct some Mod Review justice your way, though - a friendly request often serves you well!Rozovian (Not active; on vacation from evals)
Real name: Ad G
Location: Finland
Occupation: Please give me a job. I'm going crazy in this stupid economy.
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: email
Five OSTs I recommend: Seiken Densetsu 3, Halo 3 ODST, Super Metroid, Mirror's Edge, Battletoads & Double Dragon
About me: I complain about the compression in your mix, and I have a beard. I also wrote a remixing guide.Wiesty
Real name: Dylan Wiest
Location: Canada
Occupation: Music educator, musician
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: Discord
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger (duh), Donkey Kong Country 2, Final Fantasy 7, Lost Odyssey, Link to the Past
About me: I'm a long time member of OcRemix but have just recently joined the staff here! I coordinate the OC Jazz Collective who recently put out their premiere album entitled "Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger". During the day I'm a band teacher and gigging musician. My instruments of choice include percussion and piano.--
ambient (yes, with a small "a") (Not active)
Real name: Alex Gventsadze
Location: Georgia
Occupation: Professional Services
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: TBD
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
About me: Far from a professional musician (though I have a bit of a background in classical piano and upright bass), my involvement in any kind of creative process associated with music is limited to what I do on OCR. I mainly focus on electronic music and could offer only limited input when it comes to other musical styles. I've been a part of the OCR community since the early 2000s.Argle (Not active)
Real name: Adam Kirby
Location: Tinley Park, IL, USA
Occupation: Programmer analyst
Preferred method of contact: PM
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger
, King's Bounty: the Legend, Rayman, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Super Mario Galaxy
About me: just a dude who likes to make teh remixes. Been at the music thing for over a decade. I play violin and guitar but I consider that secondary to composing computer-based music. I try to write in a variety of genres to prevent myself from getting bored, and would like to think I can give feedback on pretty much any genre. Look forward to helping people out!WillRock (Judge)(Not active)
Real name: William Harby
Location: UK
Occupation: Composer
Preferred method of contact: Skype (WillRock07), PM, Facebook
Also reachable by: AIM, IRC
Five OSTs I recommend: iunno
About me: Dunno. You guys can look me up here. Also work as a composer for edgebee studios. Got a degree in music tech. Etc.
Reason i'm posting here is because I don't frequent the boards, and i'm technically still a WS Mod. but I DO like to look and help out people with their tracks, particularly if they come to me in person. Its better to send me a direct message (AIM/IRC/Skype) rather than PM because otherwise I may think "i'll look later" and not get around to it, but contact me and i'll more than happily help out anyone who needs it. I wouldn't class myself as particularly great with a specific area of critique but i'm a good all rounder and can probably give a decent idea if something will pass the panel or not. Hit me up on Skype!XPRTNovice
Real name: Joseph Zieja
Location: Northern Virginia (changes almost yearly)
Occupation: Voiceover Artist
Preferred method of contact: OCR PM at the moment
Also reachable by: Skype, mIRC sometimes, pigeon
OSTs I recommend: Xenogears, Persona 3
About Me: Relatively new to OCR (joined January 2012), but I've been a musician for over 20 years. My highlight seems to be the amount of instruments I play (at widely varying different skill levels of course), which include 4 saxophones, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, trumpet, french horn, flute, piano, and oud. I'm also a voiceover artist and fantasy/science fiction author on the side (hopefully some good news about my books coming in 2014).
I'm glad to be a part of the OCR community and now I'm thrilled to be a part of the staff as well. I look forward to growing with you all.timaeus222
Real name: Truong-Son Nguyen
Location: Washington, USA
Occupation: Physical Chemistry PhD Student (til 2021), Chemistry Teaching Assistant
Preferred method of contact: OCR PM (timaeus222), or Discord (timaeus222)
Also reachable by: Skype (timaeus222), Twitter (@timaeus222), Facebook (timaeusonocr)
OSTs I recommend: Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Mega Man Star Force series, Gunstar Heroes, Super Mario Galaxy
About Me: I'm a lover of music, chemistry, and math. I've played piano for about 8 years, and taken choir classes for about 6. I got my BS degree in Chemistry, and I enjoy helping students online (socratic.org) and at my university with science/math questions. I also sometimes make gameplay youtube videos (nowadays, iOS and GBA games). I specialize in sound design for dubstep, drum & bass, and EDM, although I am comfortable and open to writing in and giving feedback for many genres, ranging from orchestral, to atmospheric, to metal and dubstep.
OCR has always been a welcoming community, and arguably they have been a large part in helping me grow into the person I am now---I'll definitely enjoy helping out around here!Geoffrey Taucer (Not active)
Real name: Jeremy Waters
Location: Maryland, USA
Occupation:
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: Discord
OSTs I recommend: Trolls for MS DOS
About Me: Remixer and community member since roughly 2004. Self-taught musician, specializing in folk music and (to a lesser extent) rock. I play guitar, banjo, keyboard, irish whistle, and bouzouki.Hemophiliac
Real name: Chris Roman
Location: Fontana, CA, USA
Occupation: Future Medical Coder
Preferred method of contact: Discord (Hemophiliac#6361) Join the OCR Discord server and tag me! We have a #workshop section there, and I can help in real time!
Also reachable by: OCR PM, Twitter (@onehemophiliac)
OSTs I recommend: A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, Saga Frontier, Everything by Yoko Shimomura, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
About Me: Been writing and arranging music for about 20 years now, also have a music degree. Classically trained in voice and prefer to sing in groups (because blending and vocal harmony!) Have some basic keyboard skills. Really big on contrasts in music. -
When you're ready to submit a remix to OC ReMix, but you're not sure if the remix fits the site's submission standards:
- Add a link to the source (the original track(s) which was/were remixed) in the same post as the most recent update of the remix. YouTube is a good resource for sources.
- Change the prefix on the first post to Ready for Review.
- If you have any questions or special concerns, feel free to include them in the post as well.
- Post a new post in your thread so it's near the top of the board. This is important if you're changing the tags of a thread that's already a few weeks old; less so if the thread is already near the top of the board.
- Wait a week or two. If you don't get a response from an Evaluator by then, PM one or two of them. They're supposed to review your track within a few days. Sometimes it just takes a little longer.
- When you've received an evaluation, the Evaluator will either mark your thread as Work-in-Progress, indicating you need to keep working on it, or Complete, indicating that they think it's ready to submit.
Keep in mind:
- Don't use Ready for Review for remixes not intended to be submitted to OC ReMix.
- Don't use Ready for Review for remixes that you don't think are ready to be submitted.
- Don't use Ready for Review just because you've received no other feedback on your remix.
- Don't use Ready for Review on the same remix over and over again. The evaluation team is not a substitute for regular listeners and your own critical listening.
- Don't use Ready for Review on albums. There's a different process for releasing official OC ReMix albums. Read more here.
The Evaluators are not judges. They're selected because their grasp of the submission standards is good enough to be an indicator of what the judges might say. They can still be wrong, and the judges aren't always unanimous either. A positive evaluation is not a guarantee of passing the judges' panel, nor is a negative evaluation a guarantee that the remix won't pass the panel.
Don't make any changes to the track while waiting for the evaluation. Evaluators want to listen to the version you think is ready for submission. If you have things to change, do it before asking for the evaluation, or possibly after the evaluation is made.
It's okay for other people to comment on/review a track marked for evaluation. Ready for Review just means that an Evaluator will also come and review it, not that they're the only ones who may.
- Eino Keskitalo and LegoNenen
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Winter vacation abroad coming up, so I won't be able to do much online for the next week or so. I'll do what I can to set up the next phase of the website development while there. Meteo and I have discussed this a bit, and he'll be taking over the "making sure things get done" part concerning the website, as that's not really my strong suit as evidenced by how this thing _still is not done_.
For anyone interested in some Mana series music, I've got a mana medley on this year's AOCC, and have for the past few years now made sure to always contribute something from the Mana series. Merry xmas, happy new year, and all that stuff, to everyone.
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Actually, I couldn't even access the site directly, as if my router or ISP had decided the site was bad, or vice versa. I could access it via some proxy I tried, but I don't trust the free ones enough to log in with one. By the time I was trying things like that, I wasn't thinking about finding your contact information, but trying to figure out what happened to the site, so I didn't even check for your contact information in the thread. Stupid of me.
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Something weird is going on. I can't PM the track. I asked Willrock to do it for me. v13_b2. You should have it now, Coop. And possibly half a dozen PMs I've sent but got an error after hitting send. And then I couldn't access the site at all. The site seems to be working now, but I got a similar error when I tried to PM again.
I could've gone to bed an hour ago if I had your email address.
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Metroid!
Some of the sound design is rather simple, intro lead, bass, and snare in particular. There's also more complex sounds, creating a disparity between them. Best example of this might be around 5 minutes in, with the bass being simple and the other things more complex.
The arrangement is cool, but feels a little stretched thin. Could be a minute or two shorter (says the guy who made an 8+ minutes track for the DKC3 album). Some really cool original touches in here. 4:36 brings in some really cool original writing. Then there are parts than seem more like filler, like 4:50-5:05. Something about the sound design around there brings to mind the more lush and wet Metroid Prime tracks.
I've got two ideas for you to try, if you're interested in some experiments that might help you improve the track and your remixing in general (make sure to do this on a copy of the remix so you don't lose what you've got so far). 1 - Redo the sound design as chiptune, to make things really simple, and work on the arrangement without being distracted by the sound design. You can also try all piano (except drums, obviously), or something else to help you get at the arrangement without distractions. 2 - Disable all the effects to get at the sounds themselves, and redo the simple/complex category sounds to make things more cohesive. Then redo the mix.
Cool stuff.
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Depending on the DAW and its workflow, it might work with regions or patterns. Cutting up the arrangement into manageable chunks, whatever the DAW would call them, should help you move things around. Things should be a lot easier for you now anyway.
Rock drums could work better than the hiphop beat-style drums you've got now, that's a good idea. I recommend you split the drum kit into different channels so you can process the different elements of it differently. The snare might need different EQ or compression than the kick. The hihat samples might have a lot of noisy mids an unnecessary lows. You might want to add more reverb to the crashes than to the kick. That all depends on the sound of the kit and how you want to use it. There's two ways to do this: one is to have multiple tracks with the same kit, and give each of them notes for just one of the elements, eg all hihats on one track, kick on one track; the other is to route the kit's output to different channels so you can write everything on the same midi channel, but you have the different elements on different audio channels for separate processing. The first is easier to set up, and doesn't require the sampler to support multiple outputs. The second is generally easier to edit, once it's set up.
Fake guitar is only a problem when it's in the uncanny valley, or when the sound (as with every instrument) is just bad. One of my old favorites from the site has fake guitar. You can clearly hear some unnatural bends in there. But there's an illusion of performance in how it's sequenced, so it sounds fine. Not necessarily real, but still badass. That illusion of performance is important, more important than realism. Realistic fake guitar is difficult even if you're working with good guitar samples. This doesn't sound like good guitar samples. Own it. Own the fakeness, and make it feel like a good performance regardless of how realistic it is.
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I know this is a design question, so it's more of a "feature" than a bug/issue, but...
Could we please not have 600 pixels of non-content before the actual content of a forum? My laptop has 800 pixels of vertical resolution. The browser and OS eat up 110 of those, so there's not a lot of room for non-content. I'd rather not have to scroll on every page to get to the stuff I clicked a link to get to. I don't know what Invision were thinking, but this design is bloated and apparently made for HDTVs standing on their sides, and I hope it can be customized into something more compact.
I've realized reddit's design is actually really good. I thought it looked cheap and dated when I joined. The noncontent on the front page is about 100 pixels, and then the posts start. It could be fancier, but it can't really be much better in terms of efficiency.
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modreview/eval
Orchestra isn't my forte, so it's difficult for me to say much about the genre-specific things.
2 minute track? K. It's a short and somewhat repetitive source, so a short remix might not be a problem.
Sounds too quiet. Compare it to some (non-bombastic) orchestral tracks on ocr to see if your levels are about the same as theirs. There's a couple of actual orchestra recordings, but most are sound library works. Either should work for reference.
The sound seems a bit dark and muffled. With the piano, I suppose its a deliberate choice, but I can't tell if that's the case with the strings and other stuff. This might be why it sounds quiet - not enough highs. Again, find some reference tracks to compare to, and see if you're okay with any differences in sound and balance.
Source is there. It sounds rather conservative. I'm not familiar enough with the source to be able to quickly say much more. There's a fair bit of dynamics and mood changes compared to the original, and obviously more elaborate writing, so it's not just a copy-pasted genre swap. I think it's in the clear.
It's pretty. Nice work. Check the production against some reference tracks, and sub it.
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modreview/eval
Intro has me worried about the mixing. The bass drum is louder than it needs to be.
I have no problem hearing the Cyber Maze Core source here, but it took me a long time to hear any Dark Necrobat stuff. Once it comes in at 2:25, this feels more like a medley than a ReMix. Fortunately, the lead from Core is still there. The arrangement, overall, is on the conservative side of things, but I think it's in the green. The genre adaptation obviously does a lot to differentiate it from the original.
Sound design is an interesting blend of jazz with the drums and bass, and retro synth stuff. It's a cool combination, although might be a bit too aggressive. Not terribly so, but they strike me as a bit of an odd choice. There are parts where that works really well (eg 2:00), and others where they don't work nearly that well (0:20, 2:35). It's often a question of what the arrangement does at the time.
Overall, the production is good enough. I'm a little torn on some of the sound design choices, but there are no dealbreakers. That one chip-arp-y lead is sometimes too loud, as are the drums (though with the choice of samples, lowering the drum levels too much would make them sound silly). Maybe the other stuff should be louder instead? The synth stuff sounds a bit too raw and exposed, but I can't tell if it's a problem or a style.
I would complain about weird glitches in the background around 2:00, but once I realized those were intentional, it's no longer a complain. 1:46-2:15. Really cool. Glitchy ending. Cool. I would otherwise complain about the note the track ends on, but as that's not actually where it ends, it's fine.
There are improvements to be made, but it's in a rather good state right now. Nice work. Do consider timaeus' points about the lead getting old and stuff.
- fxsnowy and timaeus222
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2
Besaid Island Remix - Denzel Parks
in Post Your Game ReMixes!
Posted
Hi and welcome to ocremix. You've tagged your three threads for eval, but it seems you don't know what it's for, or understand what kinds of remixes ocr is about. While you can post almost any kind of remix in this forum, the things you submit to ocr for official mixposts have to meet certain standards. The eval tag is used to ask official evaluator to give your remix a listen before you submit it to the panel. See this thread.
This track doesn't meet those standards. It's essentially just the source, with a delay on it, and some other effects and things around. It's fine to post that here (and it's a great source, beautiful and easy to work with), but don't use the eval tag for that, because it's not an ocr-type arrangement. To remove the tag, use the Full Editor when editing the first post.
I'm going to evaluate the other two mixes, as they seem to be more in line with what ocr posts. Again, welcome to the site.